Wireless communication system, method, base station, user equipment and device

ABSTRACT

A wireless communication system, a method, a base station, user equipment and a device. An electronic device for a user equipment in a wireless communication system, wherein the user equipment simultaneously performs wireless data connections with a first base station and a second base station over different carriers, the electronic device including: circuitry configured to, acquire a notification to release the wireless data connection between the user equipment and the first base station from the second base station, if a release triggering node judges that a release condition is satisfied; and release the wireless data connection with the first base station based on the notification, wherein the release triggering node is either the first base station or the second base station.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/693,387 filed Nov. 25, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 14/904,883, filed Jan. 13, 2016 (now U.S. Pat. No.10,506,661), which is based on PCT filing PCT/CN2014/083978, filed Aug.8, 2014, which claims priority to CN 201310351507.7, filed Aug. 13,2013, the entire contents of each are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to a wireless communication system and amethod, base station, user equipment and device in the wirelesscommunication system, and more particularly, to a procedure in awireless communication system in which a user equipment simultaneouslyperforms wireless data connections with a plurality of base stationsover different carriers, in the procedure, the user equipment releaseswireless data connection with some of the base stations and/or transferspart or all of data bearers with regard to these base stations to otherbase stations under specific conditions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently, in the wireless communication system, a technology in whichthe user equipment simultaneously performs wireless data connectionswith a plurality of base stations over different carriers has beenwidely applied. However, in some cases, such as cases in which wirelesslink failure occurs between the user equipment and a certain basestation, it needs to share load for a certain base station, a primarycarrier signal quality between the user equipment and a certain basestation is low or the like, it might need to release the wireless dataconnection between the user equipment and the base station and/ortransfer part or all of the data bearers with regard to this basestation to other base station.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A brief summary of the disclosure will be given below to provide basicunderstanding of some aspects of the disclosure. However, it shall beappreciated that this summary is neither exhaustively descriptive of thedisclosure nor intended to define essential or important components orthe scope of the disclosure but is merely for the purpose of presentingsome concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form and hereby acts asa preamble of more detailed descriptions which will be presented later.

In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present disclosureis to provide a wireless communication system and a method, basestation, user equipment and device in the wireless communication system,which are capable of enabling to trigger release of wireless dataconnection between the user equipment and some of the base stationsand/or transferring part or all of the data bearers with regard to thesebase stations to other base stations if specific conditions aresatisfied in the wireless communication system, in which the userequipment simultaneously performs wireless data connections with aplurality of base stations over different carriers. Thus, it is possibleto ensure the user equipment obtains relatively ideal service qualityfrom the base station.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided anelectronic device for a user equipment in a wireless communicationsystem, wherein the user equipment simultaneously performs wireless dataconnections with a first base station and a second base station overdifferent carriers, the electronic device comprising: circuitryconfigured to, acquire a notification to release the wireless dataconnection between the user equipment and the first base station fromthe second base station, if a release triggering node judges that arelease condition is satisfied; and release the wireless data connectionwith the first base station based on the notification, wherein therelease triggering node is either the first base station or the secondbase station.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is also provided ann electronic device for a base station in a wireless communicationsystem, wherein a user equipment simultaneously performs wireless dataconnections with the base station and other base station over differentcarriers, and the base station releases the wireless data connectionwith the user equipment if a release triggering node judges a releasecondition is satisfied, the electronic device comprising: circuitryconfigured to receive notification information from the other basestation to release the wireless data connection between the base stationand the user equipment; and release the wireless data connection betweenthe user equipment and the base station and transfer the data bearers tothe other base station for transmission, wherein the data bearers aredirectly from core network and/or forwarded from the other base station.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is also provided anelectronic device for a base station in a wireless communication system,wherein the user equipment simultaneously performs wireless dataconnections with the base station and other base station over differentcarriers, and the other base station releases the wireless dataconnection with the user equipment if a release triggering node judges arelease condition is satisfied, the base station comprising circuitryconfigured to: generate notification information for the other basestation to release the wireless data connection between the other basestation and the user equipment; and notify to the user equipment releaseof the wireless data connection between the user equipment and the otherbase station, wherein data bearers transmitted by the other base stationare directly from core network and/or forwarded from the base station.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is also providedelectronic device in a wireless communication system, wherein thewireless communication system comprises a first base station, a secondbase station and a user equipment, the user equipment simultaneouslyperforms wireless data connections with the first base station and thesecond base station over different carriers, and a release triggeringnode triggers a release procedure to release the wireless dataconnection between the first base station and the user equipment if itis judged that a release condition is satisfied, the electronic devicecomprising circuitry configured to: receive one or more of the followingfrom the second base station: information about the second base station,information about the first base station, information about core networkbearers corresponding to data bearers transmitted by the first basestation, information about the release condition, information aboutmaster-slave relationship between the second base station and the firstbase station and information about the user equipment.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is also provided amethod for use in a wireless communication system, wherein the wirelesscommunication system comprises a first base station, a second basestation and a user equipment, and the user equipment simultaneouslyperforms wireless data connection with the first base station and thesecond base station over different carriers, the method comprising: arelease judging step of judging whether a release condition is satisfiedby a release triggering node; and a release triggering step oftriggering a release procedure to release the wireless data connectionbetween the first base station and the user equipment by the releasetriggering node if it is judged that the release condition is satisfied.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a wirelesscommunication system including: a deactivated base station; anon-deactivated base station; and a user equipment, in which the userequipment simultaneously performs wireless data connections with thedeactivated base station and the non-deactivated base station overdifferent carriers, and a deactivation triggering node triggers, if itis judged that a deactivation condition is satisfied, a deactivationprocedure to release the wireless data connection between thedeactivated base station and the user equipment.

According to a preferred embodiment of the disclosure, the deactivationtriggering node may be the deactivated base station, the non-deactivatedbase station or the user equipment.

According to another preferred embodiment of the disclosure, if thedeactivation triggering node is the user equipment, in a case that thedeactivation condition is satisfied, the user equipment issues anotification to the non-deactivated base station to trigger thedeactivation procedure, the non-deactivated base station performsadmission control, and the deactivated base station releases, upon beinginformed of the non-deactivated base station having performed theadmission control, unaccepted data bearers among data bearers betweenthe user equipment and the deactivated base station and transfersaccepted data bearers among the data bearers to the non-deactivated basestation for transmission.

According to another preferred embodiment of the disclosure, if thedeactivation triggering node is the deactivated base station, thenon-deactivated base station performs admission control and issues anotification to the deactivated base station after receiving a messagefor triggering the deactivation procedure issued by the deactivated basestation, and the deactivated base station releases, according to thenotification from the non-deactivated base station, unaccepted databearers among data bearers between the user equipment and thedeactivated base station and transfers accepted data bearers among thedata bearers to the non-deactivated base station for transmission.

According to another preferred embodiment of the disclosure, if thedeactivation triggering node is the non-deactivated base station, thenon-deactivated base station performs admission control directly afterdeciding to trigger the deactivation procedure and issues a notificationto the deactivated base station, and the deactivated base stationreleases, according to the notification from the non-deactivated basestation, unaccepted data bearers among data bearers between the userequipment and the deactivated base station and transfers accepted databearers among the data bearers to the non-deactivated base station fortransmission.

According to another preferred embodiment of the disclosure, the userequipment directly reports a mobility measurement result of a carrier ofthe deactivated base station to the non-deactivated base station, or theuser equipment reports the mobility measurement result to thedeactivated base station and the mobility measurement result is reportedto the non-deactivated base station via the deactivated base station toserve as a reference for triggering the deactivation procedure by thenon-deactivated base station.

According to another preferred embodiment of the disclosure, the userequipment releases, upon being informed of the non-deactivated basestation having performed the admission control, the unaccepted databearers and transmits and receives the accepted data bearers over aservice carrier of the non-deactivated base station.

According to another preferred embodiment of the disclosure, thenon-deactivated base station notifies a core network to release corenetwork bearers corresponding to the unaccepted data bearers aftercompleting the admission control, or the deactivated base stationnotifies the core network to release the core network bearerscorresponding to the unaccepted data bearers after receiving anotification about the deactivation procedure from the non-deactivatedbase station.

According to another preferred embodiment of the disclosure, if data ofthe deactivated base station is directly forwarded from thenon-deactivated base station, the non-deactivated base station stopscontinuing to forward data to the deactivated base station whileperforming the admission control, otherwise, a core network triggerspath transfer operation for core network bearers corresponding to theaccepted data bearers after receiving a notification about thedeactivation procedure, which is issued by the non-deactivated basestation after completing the admission control.

According to another preferred embodiment of the disclosure, thedeactivation condition comprises at least one of the following: aprimary carrier signal quality between the user equipment and thedeactivated base station is lower than a predetermined signal qualitythreshold; time length for which the user equipment performs datatransmission with the non-deactivated base station is longer than apredetermined time length threshold; the non-deactivated base station isto share load for the deactivated base station; power consumption thatthe user equipment performs uplink transmission with a single node isless than power consumption that the user equipment performs uplinktransmission with dual nodes by a predetermined power consumptionthreshold; when the user equipment needs to transfer the wireless dataconnection with the deactivated base station to a new wireless basestation, it needs to combine a procedure to establish wireless dataconnection with the new wireless base station and the non-deactivatedbase station with a procedure to release the wireless data connectionwith the deactivated base station; wireless link failure occurs betweenthe user equipment and the deactivated base station; and the userequipment needs to establish wireless data connection with thedeactivated base station at the same time in a scene that the userequipment only has wireless data connection with the non-deactivatedbase station, but an initial access procedure with respect to thedeactivated base station by the user equipment fails.

According to another preferred embodiment of the disclosure, thedeactivated base station or the non-deactivated base station sends oneor more of the following to a core network: information about thenon-deactivated base station, information about the deactivated basestation, information about core network bearers corresponding toaccepted data bearers and unaccepted data bearers, information about thedeactivation condition, information about master-slave relationshipbetween the non-deactivated base station and the deactivated basestation and information about the user equipment.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is also provided amethod for use in a wireless communication system, in which the wirelesscommunication system includes a deactivated base station, anon-deactivated base station and a user equipment, and the userequipment simultaneously performs wireless data connections with thedeactivated base station and the non-deactivated base station overdifferent carriers, the method including: a deactivation judging step ofjudging whether a deactivation condition is satisfied by a deactivationtriggering node; and a deactivation triggering step of triggering adeactivation procedure to release the wireless data connection betweenthe deactivated base station and the user equipment by the deactivationtriggering node if it is judged that the deactivation condition issatisfied.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is also provided abase station in a wireless communication system, in which a userequipment simultaneously performs wireless data connections with thebase station and other base station over different carriers, and thebase station releases the wireless data connection with the userequipment if a deactivation triggering node judges a deactivationcondition is satisfied, the base station including: a receiving unitconfigured to receive notification information to release the wirelessdata connection between the base station and the user equipment; and acontrol unit configured to release, according to a result of admissioncontrol performed by the other base station included in the notificationinformation, unaccepted data bearers among data bearers between the userequipment and the base station and transfer accepted data bearers amongthe data bearers to the other base station for transmission.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is also provided abase station in a wireless communication system, in which the userequipment simultaneously performs wireless data connections with thebase station and other base station over different carriers, and theother base station releases the wireless data connection with the userequipment if a deactivation triggering node judges a deactivationcondition is satisfied, the base station including: an admission controlperforming unit configured to perform admission control to determineacceptable data bearers and unacceptable data bearers among data bearersbetween the other base station and the user equipment.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is also provided auser equipment in a wireless communication system, in which the userequipment simultaneously performs wireless data connections with adeactivated base station and a non-deactivated base station overdifferent carriers, the user equipment including: a control unitconfigured to trigger, if a deactivation triggering node judges adeactivation condition is satisfied, the user equipment to release thewireless data connection with the deactivated base station.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is also provided adevice in a wireless communication system, in which the wirelesscommunication system includes a deactivated base station, anon-deactivated base station and a user equipment, the user equipmentsimultaneously performs wireless data connections with the deactivatedbase station and the non-deactivated base station over differentcarriers, and a deactivation triggering node triggers a deactivationprocedure to release the wireless data connection between thedeactivated base station and the user equipment if it is judged that adeactivation condition is satisfied, the device including: a receivingunit configured to receive one or more of the following from thedeactivated base station or the non-deactivated base station:information about the non-deactivated base station, information aboutthe deactivated base station, information about core network bearerscorresponding to accepted data bearers and unaccepted data bearers,information about the deactivation condition, information aboutmaster-slave relationship between the non-deactivated base station andthe deactivated base station and information about the user equipment.

According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, there is alsoprovided a storage medium including machine readable program codes whichwhen executed on an information processing apparatus, cause theinformation processing apparatus to perform the following steps: adeactivation judging step of judging whether a deactivation condition issatisfied by a deactivation triggering node; and a deactivationtriggering step of triggering a deactivation procedure to releasewireless data connection between a deactivated base station and a userequipment by the deactivation triggering node if it is judged that thedeactivation condition is satisfied, in which the user equipmentsimultaneously performs wireless data connections with the deactivatedbase station and a non-deactivated base station over different carriers.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is also provided aprogram product including machine executable instructions which whenexecuted on an information processing apparatus cause the informationprocessing apparatus to perform the following steps: a deactivationjudging step of judging whether a deactivation condition is satisfied bya deactivation triggering node; and a deactivation triggering step oftriggering a deactivation procedure to release wireless data connectionbetween a deactivated base station and a user equipment by thedeactivation triggering node if it is judged that the deactivationcondition is satisfied, in which the user equipment simultaneouslyperforms wireless data connections with the deactivated base station anda non-deactivated base station over different carriers.

Other aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure will be presented inthe following detailed description serving to fully disclose preferredembodiments of the disclosure but not to limit the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure can be better understood with reference to the detaileddescription given below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,throughout which identical or like reference signs denote identical orlike components. The accompanying drawings together with the followingdetailed description are incorporated into and form a part of thespecification and serve to further illustrate the preferred embodimentsof the disclosure and to explain the principle and advantages of thedisclosure by way of example. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a wirelesscommunication system according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example scene of adeactivation procedure between the user equipment and the deactivatedbase station in a case that the user equipment serves as thedeactivation triggering node;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example scene of thedeactivation procedure between the user equipment and the deactivatedbase station in a case that the user equipment serves as thedeactivation triggering node;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating yet another example scene ofthe deactivation procedure between the user equipment and thedeactivated base station in a case that the user equipment serves as thedeactivation triggering node;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example scene of thedeactivation procedure between the user equipment and the deactivatedbase station in a case that the deactivated base station serves as thedeactivation triggering node;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example scene of thedeactivation procedure between the user equipment and the deactivatedbase station in a case that the deactivated base station serves as thedeactivation triggering node;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example scene of thedeactivation procedure between the user equipment and the deactivatedbase station in a case that the non-deactivated base station serves asthe deactivation triggering node;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example scene of thedeactivation procedure between the user equipment and the deactivatedbase station in a case that the non-deactivated base station serves asthe deactivation triggering node;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flow chart illustrating a method for use in thewireless communication system according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of a base station in a wireless communication systemaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the base station in the wireless communication systemaccording to another embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the base station in the wireless communication systemaccording to yet another embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the base station in the wireless communication systemaccording to still another embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of a base station in a wireless communication systemaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the base station in the wireless communication systemaccording to another embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the base station in the wireless communication systemaccording to yet another embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the base station in the wireless communication systemaccording to still another embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of a user equipment in a wireless communication systemaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the user equipment in the wireless communication systemaccording to another embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the user equipment in the wireless communication systemaccording to yet another embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the user equipment in the wireless communication systemaccording to still another embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of a device in a wireless communication system accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the device in the wireless communication systemaccording to another embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the device in the wireless communication systemaccording to yet another embodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of apersonal computer as an information processing apparatus that may beused in an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described belowin conjunction with the accompanying drawings. For the sake of clarityand conciseness, not all the features of practical implementations aredescribed in the specification. However, it is to be appreciated thatnumerous implementation-specific decisions shall be made duringdeveloping any of such practical implementations so as to achieve thedeveloper's specific goals, for example, to comply with system- andbusiness-related constraining conditions which will vary from oneimplementation to another. Moreover, it shall also be appreciated thatsuch a development effort might be very complex and time-consuming butmay simply be a routine task for those skilled in the art benefitingfrom this disclosure.

It shall further be noted that only those device structures and/orprocess steps closely relevant to the solutions of the disclosure areillustrated in the drawings while other details less relevant to thedisclosure are omitted so as not to obscure the disclosure due to thoseunnecessary details.

Further, in order to facilitate description, hereinafter, a base stationthat the user equipment is to release the wireless data connectiontherewith is referred to as a “deactivated base station”, while a basestation that the user equipment maintains the wireless data connectiontherewith is referred to as a “non-deactivated base station”, a node fortriggering the deactivation procedure between the user equipment and thedeactivated base station is referred to as a “deactivation triggeringnode”, and a procedure to release the wireless data connection betweenthe user equipment and the deactivated base station is referred to as a“deactivation procedure”.

Embodiments of the disclosure will be described with reference to FIGS.1-25 below. First, an example of a wireless communication systemaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure will be described withreference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating awireless communication system according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication system may include thedeactivated base station, the non-deactivated base station and the userequipment. In the wireless communication system, the user equipmentsimultaneously performs wireless data connections with the deactivatedbase station and the non-deactivated base station over differentcarriers, and the deactivation triggering node triggers, if it is judgedthat a deactivation condition is satisfied, the deactivation procedureto release the wireless data connection between the deactivated basestation and the user equipment. Preferably, the deactivation triggeringnode may be the user equipment, the deactivated base station or thenon-deactivated base station.

Preferably, as an example but not limitation, the deactivation conditionmay include at least one of the following: a primary carrier signalquality between the user equipment and the deactivated base station islower than a predetermined signal quality threshold; time length forwhich the user equipment performs data transmission with thenon-deactivated base station is longer than a predetermined time lengththreshold; the non-deactivated base station is to share load for thedeactivated base station; power consumption that the user equipmentperforms uplink transmission with a single node is less than powerconsumption that the user equipment performs uplink transmission withdual nodes by a predetermined power consumption threshold; when the userequipment needs to transfer the wireless data connection with thedeactivated base station to a new wireless base station, it needs tocombine a procedure to establish wireless data connection with the newwireless base station and the non-deactivated base station with aprocedure to release the wireless data connection with the deactivatedbase station; wireless link failure occurs between the user equipmentand the deactivated base station; and the user equipment needs toestablish wireless data connection with the deactivated base station atthe same time in a scene that the user equipment only has wireless dataconnection with the non-deactivated base station, but an initial accessprocedure with respect to the deactivated base station by the userequipment fails.

Below, example scenes of the deactivation procedure between the userequipment and the deactivated base station in cases that thedeactivation triggering node is the user equipment, the deactivated basestation or the non-deactivated base station respectively will bedescribed in detail with reference to FIGS. 2-8. Further, it is to benoted that in order to avoid the drawings and the description being toocomplex, only signaling interactions closely related to the deactivationprocedure are shown and described herein, and those signalinginteractions which are well-known to those skilled in the art will notbe described herein.

First, example scenes of the deactivation procedure between the userequipment and the deactivated base station in a case that the userequipment serves as the deactivation triggering node will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 2-4.

Specifically, if the deactivation triggering node is the user equipment,in a case that the deactivation condition is satisfied, the userequipment issues a notification to the non-deactivated base station totrigger the deactivation procedure, the non-deactivated base stationperforms admission control, and the deactivated base station releases,upon being informed of the non-deactivated base station having performedthe admission control, unaccepted data bearers among data bearersbetween the user equipment and the deactivated base station andtransfers accepted data bearers among the data bearers to thenon-deactivated base station for transmission.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example scene of thedeactivation procedure between the user equipment and the deactivatedbase station in a case that the user equipment serves as thedeactivation triggering node. This example scene generally applies tothe following two cases: first, wireless link failure occurs between theuser equipment and the deactivated base station; and second, in a scenewhere the user equipment only has wireless data connection with thenon-deactivated base station, the user equipment needs to establish thewireless data connection with the deactivated base station at the same,but an initial access procedure with respect to the deactivated basestation by the user equipment fails.

As shown in FIG. 2, the user equipment serving as the deactivationtriggering node issues, in a case that it monitors the deactivationtriggering condition is satisfied, a “deactivation request” to thenon-deactivated base station for example to report such a case, therebytriggering the deactivation procedure between the user equipment and thedeactivated base station. Then, the non-deactivated base stationperforms the admission control to determine acceptable data bearers andunacceptable data bearers for the to non-deactivated base station amongthe data bearers between the user equipment and the deactivated basestation, and issues for example a “deactivation notification” to thedeactivated base station to notify the deactivated base station of theresult of the admission control. The deactivated base station stopsscheduling of data bearers relevant to the user equipment afterreceiving the notification, releases the unacceptable data bearers forthe non-deactivated base station and transfers the acceptable databearers for the non-deactivated base station to the non-deactivated basestation. It should note that after receiving the “deactivationnotification”, the deactivated base station may feed back anacknowledgement message to the notification, and may also not feed backthe acknowledgement message of course.

Further, the non-deactivated base station may issue, after performingthe admission control or after confirming the deactivated base stationhas performed data bearer transfer operation, a “deactivationconfirmation” to the user equipment for example to notify the userequipment to release the unacceptable data bearers. It should note thatthe “deactivation confirmation” can be performed only once after theadmission control or after confirming the deactivated base station hasperformed the data bearer transfer operation.

Preferably, the user equipment releases, after monitoring the wirelesslink failure or receiving the “deactivation confirmation” message, RRC(radio resource control) configuration of the deactivated base stationbut reserves data bearer information about the deactivated base stationin order to update transmitting and receiving nodes of relevant databearers after the deactivation procedure. The deactivated base stationreleases all RRC configuration information and data bearer informationbetween itself and the user equipment after completing the data bearertransfer operation.

Next, another example scene of the deactivation procedure between theuser equipment and the deactivated base station in a case that the userequipment serves as the deactivation triggering node will be describedwith reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustratinganother example scene of the deactivation procedure between the userequipment and the deactivated base station in a case that the userequipment serves as the deactivation triggering node. This scenegenerally applies to other cases than the triggering conditions of FIG.2.

As shown in FIG. 3, in a case that the user equipment serving as thedeactivation triggering node judges the deactivation condition issatisfied, the user equipment issues for example a “deactivationrequest” to the non-deactivated base station to trigger the deactivationprocedure between the user equipment and the deactivated base station.The non-deactivated base station performs the admission control afterreceiving the request, and then issues for example a “deactivationnotification” to the deactivated base station to notify the deactivatedbase station of the result of the admission control, thereby triggeringthe deactivated base station to release the unacceptable data bearersand transfer the acceptable data bearers to the non-deactivated basestation. Further, after the admission control, for example, a“deactivation confirmation” is also issued to the user equipment tonotify the user equipment of the result of the admission control.

As shown in FIG. 3, in this case, for example, the “deactivationconfirmation” may be issued to the user equipment at the following threemoments as a feedback to the “deactivation request” issued by the userequipment, so as to notify the user equipment of the acceptable databearers and unacceptable data bearers for the non-deactivated basestation: (1) after the non-deactivated base station has performed theadmission control, the “deactivation confirmation” is issued by thenon-deactivated base station to the user equipment; (2) after thedeactivated base station has received the “deactivation notification”,the “deactivation confirmation” is issued by the deactivated basestation to the user equipment; and (3) after the deactivated basestation has performed the data bearer transfer operation, the“deactivation confirmation” is issued by the non-deactivated basestation to the user equipment. The user equipment switches thetransmitting and receiving nodes of the acceptable data bearers andreleases the unacceptable data bearers after receiving the confirmationmessage.

As can be seen from above, as compared with the scene shown in FIG. 2,in the scene shown in FIG. 3, since the user equipment may communicatewith the deactivated base station, it is possible to issue by thedeactivated base station the confirmation to for example the“deactivation request” to the user equipment.

Next, yet another example scene of the deactivation procedure in a casethat the user equipment serves as the deactivation triggering node willbe described with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagramillustrating yet another example scene of the deactivation procedurebetween the user equipment and the deactivated base station in a casethat the user equipment serves as the deactivation triggering node.

As shown in FIG. 4, the processing flow before the admission control ofthe non-deactivated base station is the same as that in FIG. 3, and thusno description will be repeated herein. Only cases different from thosein the scene shown in FIG. 3 will be described below.

Specifically, the non-deactivated base station issues, after performingthe admission control, the “deactivation confirmation” to the userequipment as the feedback to the “deactivation request” for example, soas to confirm the acceptable data bearers and unacceptable data bearersfor the non-deactivated base station. Then, the user equipment issuesfor example the “deactivation notification” to the deactivated basestation to trigger the deactivated base station to release theunacceptable data bearers and transfer the acceptable data bearers tothe non-deactivated base station according to the admission controlresult. It should understand that after receiving the notificationmessage from the user equipment, the deactivated base station may feedback an acknowledgement to the message and may also not, and thedisclosure make no limitation on this.

Example scenes of the deactivation procedure between the user equipmentand the deactivated base station in a case that the deactivated basestation serves as the deactivation triggering node will be described indetail with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 below.

Specifically, if the deactivation triggering node is the deactivatedbase station, the non-deactivated base station performs admissioncontrol and issues a notification to the deactivated base station afterreceiving a message for triggering the deactivation procedure issued bythe deactivated base station, and the deactivated base station releases,according to the notification from the non-deactivated base station,unaccepted data bearers among data bearers between the user equipmentand the deactivated base station and transfers accepted data bearersamong the data bearers to the non-deactivated base station.

First, description will be made with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is aschematic diagram illustrating an example scene of the deactivationprocedure between the user equipment and the deactivated base station ina case that the deactivated base station serves as the deactivationtriggering node.

As shown in FIG. 5, the deactivated base station serving as thedeactivation triggering node issues, after it is judged the deactivationcondition is satisfied, the “deactivation request” to thenon-deactivated base station for example to trigger the deactivationprocedure. The non-deactivated base station performs the admissioncontrol after receiving the request, and then issues, according to theresult of the admission control, a “deactivation response” to thedeactivated base station for example as a feedback to the “deactivationrequest”, so as to confirm whether to accept the deactivation procedure.The deactivated base station releases, according to the receivedresponse message, the unacceptable data bearers for the non-deactivatedbase station and transfers the acceptable data bearers to thenon-deactivated base station. Further, the deactivated base stationissues, after receiving the response message, the “deactivationconfirmation” to the user equipment for example to notify the userequipment of the acceptable data bearers and unacceptable data bearersfor the non-deactivated base station. It should understand that in acase that the “deactivation response” indicates that the deactivationprocedure can not be accepted, there is no need to perform subsequentoperations.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example scene of thedeactivation procedure between the user equipment and the deactivatedbase station in a case that the deactivated base station serves as thedeactivation triggering node. As can be seen from FIG. 6, the onlydifference from the example scene as shown in FIG. 5 is that the“deactivation confirmation” is issued to the user equipment by thenon-deactivated base station, as denoted by circles in FIGS. 5 and 6,and thus no description for the deactivation procedure as shown in FIG.6 will be repeated herein.

However, it should note that in a case where both the “deactivationrequest” issued by the deactivated base station and the “deactivationresponse” fed back by the non-deactivated base station are transmittedthrough an air interface, as shown by broken lines in FIGS. 5 and 6,there is no need to send the “deactivation confirmation” to the userequipment, and the user equipment may parse the received “deactivationresponse” to determine the data bearers to be released and the databearers for which the transmitting and receiving nodes shall beswitched. In this case, there is no difference between the examplescenes as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and the example scenes can be combinedinto one.

Next, example scenes of the deactivation procedure in a case that thenon-deactivated base station serves as the deactivation triggering nodewill be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

Specifically, if the deactivation triggering node is the non-deactivatedbase station, the non-deactivated base station performs admissioncontrol directly after deciding to trigger the deactivation procedureand issues a notification to the deactivated base station, and thedeactivated base station releases, according to the notification fromthe non-deactivated base station, unaccepted data bearers among databearers between the user equipment and the deactivated base station andtransfers accepted data bearers among the data bearers to thenon-deactivated base station.

First, reference is made to FIG. 7, which is a schematic diagramillustrating an example scene of the deactivation procedure between theuser equipment and the deactivated base station in a case that thenon-deactivated base station serves as the deactivation triggering node.

As shown in FIG. 7, the non-deactivated base station serving as thedeactivation triggering node performs the admission control after it isjudged that the deactivation condition is satisfied and then issues forexample the “deactivation notification” to the deactivated base stationso as to notify the deactivated base station of the result of theadmission control, and the deactivated base station returns, afterreceiving the notification message, a “deactivation acknowledgement” tothe non-deactivated base station for example as a feedback to the“deactivation notification” so as to determine whether to accept thedeactivation procedure. It should understand that in a case that adecision right of the deactivation procedure belongs to thenon-deactivated base station in default, the sending of the“deactivation acknowledgement” may be omitted. The deactivated basestation releases, according to the received “deactivation notification”,the unacceptable data bearers for the non-deactivated base station andtransfers the acceptable data bearers to the non-deactivated basestation. Further, after receiving the “deactivation notification”, thedeactivated base station further issues for example the “deactivationconfirmation” to the user equipment so as to notify the user equipmentof the data bearers to be released and the data bearers for which thetransmitting and receiving nodes shall be switched.

Further, preferably, since the non-deactivated base station serves asthe deactivation triggering node for triggering the deactivationprocedure, the user equipment needs to report a mobility measurementresult of a carrier of the deactivated base station to thenon-deactivated base station and the deactivated base station. As shownin FIG. 7, the user equipment may directly report the mobilitymeasurement result to the non-deactivated base station, or in a casethat the user equipment only reports the mobility measurement result tothe deactivated base station, the result may be reported to thenon-deactivated base station via the deactivated base station to serveas a reference for triggering the deactivation procedure by thenon-deactivated base station.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example scene of thedeactivation procedure between the user equipment and the deactivatedbase station in a case that the non-deactivated base station serves asthe deactivation triggering node. As can be seen from FIG. 8, the onlydifference from the example scene as shown in FIG. 7 is that the“deactivation confirmation” is issued to the user equipment by thenon-deactivated base station, as denoted by circles in FIGS. 7 and 8,and thus no description of the deactivation procedure as shown in FIG. 8will be repeated herein.

However, it should note that in a case that both the “deactivationnotification” issued by the non-deactivated base station and the“deactivation acknowledgement” fed back by the deactivated base stationare transmitted via the air interface, as shown by broken lines in FIGS.7 and 8, there is no need to send the “deactivation confirmation” to theuser equipment, and the user equipment may parse the received“deactivation notification” to determine the data bearers to be releasedand the data bearers for which the transmitting and receiving nodesshall be switched. In this case, there is no difference between theexample scenes as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, and thus the example scenescan be combined into one.

According to the deactivation procedure described above with referenceto FIGS. 2-8, the user equipment releases, upon being informed of thenon-deactivated base station having performed the admission control, theunacceptable data bearers for the non-deactivated base station andtransmits and receives the acceptable data bearers over a servicecarrier of the non-deactivated base station. Specifically, the userequipment may obtain confirmation information related to thedeactivation procedure from the deactivated base station or thenon-deactivated base station, the confirmation information including aresult that the non-deactivated base station has performed the admissioncontrol, and the user equipment releases, according to the result of theadmission control, the unacceptable data bearers and transmits andreceives the acceptable data bearers over a service carrier of thenon-deactivated base station.

Further, preferably, the non-deactivated base station notifies a corenetwork to release core network bearers corresponding to the unaccepteddata bearers after completing the admission control, or the deactivatedbase station notifies the core network to release core network bearerscorresponding to the unaccepted data bearers after receiving anotification about the deactivation procedure from the non-deactivatedbase station.

Further, preferably, after determining the deactivation procedure can beaccepted, the deactivated base station or the non-deactivated basestation sends one or more of the following to the core network:information about the non-deactivated base station, information aboutthe deactivated base station, information about core network bearerscorresponding to accepted data bearers and unaccepted data bearers,information about the deactivation condition, information aboutmaster-slave relationship between the non-deactivated base station andthe deactivated base station and information about the user equipment.

Further, the above FIGS. 2-8 only reflect the situation in which thedata of the deactivated base station is directly transmitted from thecore network, if the data of the deactivated base station is directlyforwarded from the non-deactivated base station, the non-deactivatedbase station stops continuing to forward data to the deactivated basestation while performing the admission control; otherwise, the corenetwork triggers path transfer operation for core network bearerscorresponding to the accepted data bearers after receiving anotification about the deactivation procedure, which is issued by thenon-deactivated base station after completing the admission control.

Further, during the procedure of transferring the acceptable databearers from the deactivated base station to the non-deactivated basestation, service bearers of uplink unacknowledgement (UM) transmissionmode (such as service bearers sensitive to time delay but insensitive topacket loss, e.g., VoIP or the like) only need to adjust thetransmission target nodes of the terminal, while other service bearersneed to perform synchronized operations of the data bearer transfer andPDCP and adjustment operation of the target transmitting and receivingnodes.

Although examples of the wireless communication system and thedeactivation procedure between the user equipment and the deactivatedbase station in the wireless communication system according to theembodiments of the disclosure have been described above with referenceto FIGS. 1-8, it should understand that the above description is only anexample but not limitation, and those skilled in the art may modify theabove examples according to an principle of the disclosure.

Next, a method for use in a wireless communication system according toan embodiment of the disclosure will be described with reference to FIG.9. FIG. 9 is a schematic flow chart illustrating a method for use in awireless communication system according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

As shown in FIG. 9, the method 900 according to the embodiment of thedisclosure may include a deactivation judging step S902 and adeactivation triggering step S904. The wireless communication systemusing the method 900 includes the deactivated base station, thenon-deactivated base station and the user equipment, and the userequipment simultaneously performs wireless data connections with thedeactivated base station and the non-deactivated base station overdifferent carriers.

First, in the deactivation judging step S902, the deactivationtriggering node judges whether the deactivation condition is satisfied.Preferably, as described above in the wireless communication system, thedeactivation triggering node may be the deactivated base station, thenon-deactivated base station or the user equipment.

Then, in the deactivation triggering step S904, in a case that it isjudged the deactivation condition is satisfied, the deactivationtriggering node triggers the deactivation procedure for releasing thewireless data connection between the deactivated base station and theuser equipment.

The specific deactivation procedure may be referred to the descriptionmade above with reference to FIGS. 2-8, and thus no description will berepeated herein.

An example of functional configuration of a base station in a wirelesscommunication system according to an embodiment of the disclosure willbe described with reference to FIG. 10 below. FIG. 10 is a block diagramillustrating an example of functional configuration of a base station ina wireless communication system according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

In the wireless communication system, the user equipment simultaneouslyperforms wireless data connections with the base station and other basestation over different carriers, and the base station releases thewireless data connection with the user equipment in a case that thedeactivation triggering node judges the deactivation condition issatisfied. It should understand that the base station in the embodimentis the deactivated base station, and the other base station is thenon-deactivated base station.

As shown in FIG. 10, the base station 1000 may include a receiving unit1002 and a control unit 1004.

The receiving unit 1002 may be configured to receive notificationinformation to release the wireless data connection between the basestation 1000 and the user equipment. As described above with referenceto FIGS. 2-8, the notification information may be from the userequipment or the other base station, and the notification informationmay be for example the foregoing “deactivation notification” or“deactivation response”.

The control unit 1004 may be configured to release, according to aresult of admission control performed by the other base station includedin the received notification information, unaccepted data bearers amongdata bearers between the user equipment and the base station 1000 andtransfer accepted data bearers among the data bearers to the other basestation.

Preferably, as an example but not limitation, the deactivation conditionmay include at least one of the following: a primary carrier signalquality between the user equipment and the base station 1000 is lowerthan a predetermined signal quality threshold; time length for which theuser equipment performs data transmission with the other base station islonger than a predetermined time length threshold; the other basestation is to share load for the base station 1000; power consumptionthat the user equipment performs uplink transmission with a single nodeis less than power consumption that the user equipment performs uplinktransmission with dual nodes by a predetermined power consumptionthreshold; when the user equipment needs to transfer the wireless dataconnection with the base station 1000 to a new wireless base station, itneeds to combine a procedure to establish wireless data connection withthe new wireless base station and the other base station with aprocedure to release the wireless data connection with the base station1000; wireless link failure occurs between the user equipment and thebase station 1000; and the user equipment needs to establish wirelessdata connection with the base station 1000 at the same time in a scenethat the user equipment only has wireless data connection with the otherbase station, but an initial access procedure with respect to the basestation 1000 by the user equipment fails.

An example of functional configuration of the base station in thewireless communication system according to another embodiment of thedisclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 11 below. FIG. 11 isa block diagram illustrating an example of functional configuration ofthe base station in the wireless communication system according toanother embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 11, the base station 1100 according to anotherembodiment of the disclosure may include a receiving unit 1102, acontrol unit 1104, a deactivation operation judging unit 1106 and a basestation notifying unit 1108. Particularly, the functional configurationsof the receiving unit 1102 and the control unit 1104 are the same asthose of the receiving unit 1002 and the control unit 1004 describedabove with reference to FIG. 10, and thus no details thereof will bedescribed herein. Examples of the functional configurations of thedeactivation operation judging unit 1106 and the base station notifyingunit 1108 will be described in detail respectively below.

The deactivation operation judging unit 1106 may be configured to judge,if the base station 1100 is the deactivation triggering node, whetherthe deactivation condition is satisfied.

The base station notifying unit 1108 may be configured to notify, if thedeactivation operation judging unit 1106 judges that the deactivationcondition is satisfied, the other base station so as to request releaseof the wireless data connection between the base station 1100 and theuser equipment.

Next, an example of functional configuration of the base station in thewireless communication system according to yet another embodiment of thedisclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 12. FIG. 12 is ablock diagram illustrating an example of functional configuration of thebase station in the wireless communication system according to yetanother embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 12, the base station 1200 in the wireless communicationsystem according to yet another embodiment of the disclosure may includea receiving unit 1202, a control unit 1204, a deactivation operationjudging unit 1206, a base station notifying unit 1208, a user equipmentnotifying unit 1210 and a core network notifying unit 1212.Particularly, functional configurations of the receiving unit 1202, thecontrol unit 1204, the deactivation operation judging unit 1206 and thebase station notifying unit 1208 are the same as those of the receivingunit 1102, the control unit 1104, the deactivation operation judgingunit 1106 and the base station notifying unit 1108 described above withreference to FIG. 11, and thus no details thereof will be describedherein. Examples of functional configurations of the user equipmentnotifying unit 1210 and the core network notifying unit 1212 will bedescribed in detail respectively below.

The user equipment notifying unit 1210 may be configured to notify tothe user equipment release of the wireless data connection between theuser equipment and the base station 1200 and the result of the admissioncontrol.

The core network notifying unit 1212 may be configured to notify thecore network to release the core network bearers corresponding to theunaccepted data bearers.

It should understand that the examples of the functional configurationsof the base stations 1100 and 1200 described above with reference toFIGS. 11 and 12 correspond to the examples of scenes of the deactivationprocedure in a case that the deactivated base station serves as thedeactivation triggering node, that is, the examples of the scenes asshown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

An example of functional configuration of the base station in thewireless communication system according to still another embodiment ofthe disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 13 below. FIG.13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the base station in the wireless communication systemaccording to still another embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 13, the base station 1300 in the wireless communicationsystem according to still another embodiment of the disclosure mayinclude a receiving unit 1302, a control unit 1304 and a measurementresult reporting unit 1306. Particularly, functional configurations ofthe receiving unit 1302 and the control unit 1304 are the same as thoseof the receiving unit 1002 and the control unit 1004 described abovewith reference to FIG. 10, and thus no details thereof will be repeatedherein. Only an example of functional configuration of the measurementresult reporting unit 1306 will be described in detail below.

The measurement result reporting unit 1306 may be configured to report,if the other base station is the deactivation triggering node and theuser equipment only reports a mobility measurement result of a carrierof the base station 1300 to the base station 1300, the mobilitymeasurement result to the other base station, and thus the other basestation may judge whether the deactivation condition is satisfiedaccording to the received mobility measurement result.

It is to be understood that the example of the functional configurationof the base station 1300 as shown in FIG. 13 corresponds to the exampleof the scene of the deactivation procedure in a case that thenon-deactivated base station serves as the deactivation triggering node,that is, the examples of the scenes as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of a base station in a wireless communication systemaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

In the wireless communication system, the user equipment simultaneouslyperforms wireless data connections with the base station and other basestation over different carriers, and in a case that the deactivationtriggering node judges the deactivation condition is satisfied, theother base station releases the wireless data connection with the userequipment. It is to be understood that in the embodiment, the basestation is the non-deactivated base station, and the other base stationis the deactivated base station.

As shown in FIG. 14, the base station 1400 according to the embodimentof the disclosure may include an admission control performing unit 1402.

The admission control performing unit 1402 may be configured to performthe admission control to determine the acceptable data bearers andunacceptable data bearers among the data bearers between the other basestation and the user equipment.

Preferably, as an example but not limitation, the deactivation conditionmay include at least one of the following: a primary carrier signalquality between the user equipment and the other base station is lowerthan a predetermined signal quality threshold; time length for which theuser equipment performs data transmission with the base station 1400 islonger than a predetermined time length threshold; the base station 1400is to share load for the other base station; power consumption that theuser equipment performs uplink transmission with a single node is lessthan power consumption that the user equipment performs uplinktransmission with dual nodes by a predetermined power consumptionthreshold; when the user equipment needs to transfer the wireless dataconnection with the other base station to a new wireless base station,it needs to combine a procedure to establish wireless data connectionwith the new wireless base station and the base station 1400 with aprocedure to release the wireless data connection with the other basestation; wireless link failure occurs between the user equipment and theother base station; and the user equipment needs to establish wirelessdata connection with the other base station at the same time in a scenethat the user equipment only has wireless data connection with the basestation 1400, but an initial access procedure with respect to the otherbase station by the user equipment fails.

An example of functional configuration of the base station in thewireless communication system according to another embodiment of thedisclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 15 below. FIG. 15 isa block diagram illustrating an example of functional configuration ofthe base station in the wireless communication system according toanother embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 15, the base station 1500 in the wireless communicationsystem according to another embodiment of the disclosure may include anadmission control performing unit 1502, a user equipment notifying unit1504 and a core network notifying unit 1506. Particularly, thefunctional configuration of the admission control performing unit 1502is the same as that of the admission control performing unit 1402described above with reference to FIG. 14, and thus no details thereofwill be described herein. Examples of the functional configurations ofthe user equipment notifying unit 1504 and the core network notifyingunit 1506 will be described in detail respectively below.

The user equipment notifying unit 1504 may be configured to notify tothe user equipment release of the wireless data connection between theuser equipment and the other base station and the result of theadmission control.

The core network notifying unit 1506 may be configured to notify thecore network to release the core network bearers corresponding to theunacceptable data bearers.

As described above, the admission control performing unit 1502 in thebase station 1500 serving as the non-deactivated base station maynotify, after performing the admission control, the result about theadmission control to the user equipment and the core network, so thatthe user equipment may release the unacceptable data bearers for thebase station 1500 and switch the transmitting and receiving nodes of theacceptable data bearers according to the result of the admissioncontrol, and the core network releases the core network bearerscorresponding to the unacceptable data bearers according to the resultof the admission control.

Next, an example of functional configuration of the base station in thewireless communication system according to yet another embodiment of thedisclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 16. FIG. 16 is ablock diagram illustrating an example of functional configuration of thebase station in the wireless communication system according to yetanother embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 16, the base station 1600 in the wireless communicationsystem according to another embodiment of the disclosure may include anadmission control performing unit 1602, a user equipment notifying unit1604, a core network notifying unit 1606, a receiving unit 1608 and abase station notifying unit 1610. Particularly, the functionalconfigurations of the admission control performing unit 1602, the userequipment notifying unit 1604 and the core network notifying unit 1606are the same as those of the admission control performing unit 1502, theuser equipment notifying unit 1504 and the core network notifying unit1506 described above with reference to FIG. 15, and thus no detailsthereof will be described herein. Examples of the functionalconfigurations of the receiving unit 1608 and the base station notifyingunit 1610 will be described in detail respectively below.

The receiving unit 1608 may be configured to receive, if the userequipment or the other base station is the deactivation triggering nodeand it is judged that the deactivation condition is satisfied, a requestfor releasing the wireless data connection between the user equipmentand the other base station from the user equipment or the other basestation.

The base station notifying unit 1610 may be configured to notify, afterthe admission control performing unit 1602 has performed the admissioncontrol according to the request received by the receiving unit 1608,the other base station to release the unacceptable data bearers andtransfer the acceptable data bearers to the base station 1600.

It is to be understood that the example of the functional configurationof the base station 1600 as shown in FIG. 16 corresponds to the exampleof the scene of the deactivation procedure in the case that the userequipment or the deactivated base station serves as the deactivationtriggering node, that is, examples of the scenes as shown in FIGS. 2-6.In this case, the request received by the receiving unit 1608 may be forexample a “wireless link failure report” or the “deactivation request”from the user equipment, or may be for example the “deactivationrequest” from the other base station serving as the deactivated basestation.

Further, it should also understand that the base station 1600 as shownin FIG. 16 may not include the user equipment notifying unit 1604 andthe core network notifying unit 1606, and in this case, the result aboutthe admission control is notified to the user equipment by the otherbase station, or in a case of air interface transmission, the userequipment may acquire the result of the admission control by parsing thenotification to the other base station from the base station notifyingunit 1610, and the other base station notifies the core network torelease the core network bearers that should be released.

An example of functional configuration of the base station in thewireless communication system according to still another embodiment ofthe disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 17 below. FIG.17 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of the base station in the wireless communication systemaccording to still another embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 17, the base station 1700 in the wireless communicationsystem according to still another embodiment of the disclosure mayinclude an admission control performing unit 1702, a user equipmentnotifying unit 1704, a core network notifying unit 1706, a receivingunit 1708, a deactivation operation judging unit 1710 and a base stationnotifying unit 1712. Particularly, the functional configurations of theadmission control performing unit 1702, the user equipment notifyingunit 1704 and the core network notifying unit 1706 are the same as thoseof the admission control performing unit 1502, the user equipmentnotifying unit 1504 and the core network notifying unit 1506 describedabove with reference to FIG. 15, and thus no details thereof will bedescribed herein. Examples of the functional configurations of thereceiving unit 1708, the deactivation operation judging unit 1710 andthe base station notifying unit 1712 will be described in detailrespectively below.

The receiving unit 1708 may be configured to receive, if the basestation 1700 is the deactivation triggering node, a mobility measurementresult of a carrier of the other base station from the user equipment orthe other base station.

The deactivation operation judging unit 1710 may be configured to judgewhether the deactivation condition is satisfied according to thereceived mobility measurement result and other inputs.

The base station notifying unit 1712 may be configured to notify, afterthe admission control performing unit 1702 has performed the admissioncontrol according to the judging result of the deactivation operationjudging unit 1710, the other base station to release the unacceptabledata bearers and transfer the acceptable data bearers to the basestation 1700.

It is to be understood that the example of the functional configurationof the base station 1700 as shown in FIG. 17 corresponds to the exampleof scene of the deactivation procedure in a case that thenon-deactivated base station serves as the deactivation triggering node,that is, the examples of the scenes as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. In thiscase, the mobility measurement result received by the receiving unit1708 may be for example the “measurement report” from the user equipmentor the other base station, and the notification issued by the basestation notifying unit 1712 may be for example the “deactivationnotification”.

Further, it should also understand that the base station 1700 as shownin FIG. 17 may also not include the user equipment notifying unit 1704and the core network notifying unit 1706. In this case, the other basestation notifies the user equipment of the result about the admissioncontrol through for example the “deactivation confirmation”, or in acase of air interface transmission, the user equipment may acquire theresult of the admission control by parsing the notification to the otherbase station from the base station notifying unit 1710, and the otherbase station notifies the core network bearers that should be releasedto the core network.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of a user equipment in a wireless communication systemaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure. In the wirelesscommunication system, the user equipment simultaneously performswireless data connections with the deactivated base station and thenon-deactivated base station over different carriers.

As shown in FIG. 18, the user equipment 1800 in the wirelesscommunication system according to the embodiment of the disclosure mayinclude a control unit 1802.

The control unit 1802 may be configured to trigger, if a deactivationtriggering node judges a deactivation condition is satisfied, the userequipment 1800 to release the wireless data connection with thedeactivated base station.

Preferably, as an example but not limitation, the deactivation conditionmay include at least one of the following: a primary carrier signalquality between the user equipment and the deactivated base station islower than a predetermined signal quality threshold; time length forwhich the user equipment performs data transmission with thenon-deactivated base station is longer than a predetermined time lengththreshold; the non-deactivated base station is to share load for thedeactivated base station; power consumption that the user equipmentperforms uplink transmission with a single node is less than powerconsumption that the user equipment performs uplink transmission withdual nodes by a predetermined power consumption threshold; when the userequipment needs to transfer the wireless data connection with thedeactivated base station to a new wireless base station, it needs tocombine a procedure to establish wireless data connection with the newwireless base station and the non-deactivated base station with aprocedure to release the wireless data connection with the deactivatedbase station; wireless link failure occurs between the user equipmentand the deactivated base station; and the user equipment needs toestablish wireless data connection with the deactivated base station atthe same time in a scene that the user equipment only has wireless dataconnection with the non-deactivated base station, but an initial accessprocedure with respect to the deactivated base station by the userequipment fails.

An example of functional configuration of the user equipment in thewireless communication system according to another embodiment of thedisclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 19 below. FIG. 19 isa block diagram illustrating an example of functional configuration ofthe user equipment in the wireless communication system according toanother embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 19, the user equipment 1900 in the wirelesscommunication system according to another embodiment of the disclosuremay include a control unit 1902 and a receiving unit 1904. Particularly,the functional configuration of the control unit 1902 is the same asthat of the control unit 1802 described above with reference to FIG. 18,and thus no details thereof will be described herein. An example offunctional configuration of the receiving unit 1904 will be described indetail below.

The receiving unit 1904 may be configured to receive the notificationfor releasing the wireless data connection between the user equipmentand the deactivated base station from the deactivated base station orthe non-deactivated base station.

Preferably, the control unit 1902 may trigger, according to thenotification received by the receiving unit 1904, release of databearers unacceptable by the non-deactivated base station among databearers between the user equipment 1900 and the deactivated base stationand transmitting and receiving of acceptable data bearers over a servicecarrier of the non-deactivated base station.

An example of functional configuration of the user equipment in thewireless communication system according to yet another embodiment of thedisclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 20 below. FIG. 20 isa block diagram illustrating an example of functional configuration ofthe user equipment in the wireless communication system according to yetanother embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 20, the user equipment 2000 in the wirelesscommunication system according to yet another embodiment of thedisclosure may include a control unit 2002, a receiving unit 2004 and anotifying unit 2006. Particularly, the functional configurations of thecontrol unit 2002 and the receiving unit 2004 are the same as those ofthe control unit 1902 and the receiving unit 1904 described above withreference to FIG. 19, and thus no details thereof will be describedherein. An example of functional configuration of the notifying unit2006 will be described in detail below.

The notifying unit 2006 may be configured to issue, if the userequipment 2000 is the deactivation triggering node and the deactivationcondition is satisfied, a notification to the non-deactivated basestation so as to trigger release of the wireless data connection betweenthe user equipment and the deactivated base station.

It should understand that the example of the functional configuration ofthe user equipment 2000 as shown in FIG. 20 corresponds to the exampleof the scene of the deactivation procedure in a case that the userequipment serves as the deactivation triggering node, that is, theexamples of the scenes as shown in FIGS. 2-4. In this case, thenotifying unit 2006 may for example notify the “wireless link failurereport” or the “deactivation request” to the non-deactivated basestation.

Next, an example of functional function of the user equipment in thewireless communication system according to still another embodiment ofthe disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 21. FIG. 21 is ablock diagram illustrating an example of functional function of the userequipment in the wireless communication system according to stillanother embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 21, the user equipment 2100 in the wirelesscommunication system according to still another embodiment of thedisclosure may include a control unit 2102 and a parsing unit 2104.Particularly, the functional configuration of the control unit 2102 isthe same as that of the control unit 1802 described above with referenceto FIG. 18, and thus no details thereof will be described herein. Anexample of functional configuration of the parsing unit 2104 will bedescribed in detail below.

The parsing unit 2104 may be configured to parse, if the deactivatedbase station or the non-deactivated base station is the deactivationtriggering node, a notification regarding release of the wireless dataconnection between the user equipment and the deactivated base stationfrom the non-deactivated base station or the deactivated base station.

Preferably, the control unit 2102 may trigger, according to a parsingresult, release of data bearers unacceptable by the non-deactivated basestation among data bearers between the user equipment 2100 and thedeactivated base station and transmitting and receiving of acceptabledata bearers over a service carrier of the non-deactivated base station.

It is to be understood that the example of the functional configurationof the user equipment 2100 as shown in FIG. 21 corresponds to theexample of the scene of the deactivation procedure in a case of thedeactivated base station or the non-deactivated base station being thedeactivation triggering node and air interface transmission, that is,the examples of the scenes as shown in FIGS. 5-8 in case of airinterface transmission. In this case, there is no need for the userequipment 2100 to provide a dedicated receiving unit to receive thenotification from the deactivated base station or the non-deactivatedbase station, and the acceptable data bearers and unacceptable databearers for the non-deactivated base station may be determined byparsing for example the “deactivation response” from the non-deactivatedbase station or the “deactivation notification” from the deactivatedbase station by the parsing unit 2104.

Further, preferably, the user equipment according to the embodiment ofthe disclosure may further include a measurement result reporting unitwhich may be configured to report, if the deactivated base station orthe non-deactivated base station is the deactivation triggering node, amobility measurement result of a carrier of the deactivated base stationto the deactivated base station and/or the non-deactivated base station.The case may for example correspond to the examples of the scenes asshown in FIGS. 5-8 for example.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functionalconfiguration of a device in a wireless communication system accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure. In the wireless communicationsystem, the wireless communication system includes the deactivated basestation, the non-deactivated base station and the user equipment, theuser equipment simultaneously performs wireless data connections withthe deactivated base station and the non-deactivated base station overdifferent carriers, and a deactivation triggering node triggers adeactivation procedure to release the wireless data connection betweenthe deactivated base station and the user equipment if it is judged thata deactivation condition is satisfied.

As shown in FIG. 22, the device 2200 in the wireless communicationsystem according to the embodiment of the disclosure may include areceiving unit 2202. Preferably, the device 2200 may be a device on thecore network side.

The receiving unit 2202 may be configured to receive one or more of thefollowing from the deactivated base station or the non-deactivated basestation: information about the non-deactivated base station, informationabout the deactivated base station, information about core networkbearers corresponding to accepted data bearers and unaccepted databearers, information about the deactivation condition, information aboutmaster-slave relationship between the non-deactivated base station andthe deactivated base station and information about the user equipment.

An example of functional configuration of the device in the wirelesscommunication system according to another embodiment of the disclosurewill be described with reference to FIG. 23 below. FIG. 23 is a blockdiagram illustrating an example of functional configuration of thedevice in the wireless communication system according to anotherembodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 23, the device 2300 in the wireless communicationsystem according to another embodiment of the disclosure may include areceiving unit 2302 and a control unit 2304. Particularly, thefunctional configuration of the receiving unit 2302 is the same as thatof the receiving unit 2202 described above with reference to FIG. 22,and thus no details thereof will be described herein. Only an example offunctional configuration of the control unit 2304 will be described indetail below.

The control unit 2304 may be configured to trigger, if it is judged thatdata of the deactivated base station is not directly forwarded from thenon-deactivated base station according to the information received bythe receiving unit 2302, a path transfer operation for core networkbearers corresponding to the acceptable data bearers after receivingnotification information about the deactivation procedure, which isissued by the non-deactivated base station after completing admissioncontrol.

Next, an example of functional configuration of the device in thewireless communication system according to yet another embodiment of thedisclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 24. FIG. 24 is ablock diagram illustrating an example of functional configuration of thedevice in the wireless communication system according to yet anotherembodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 24, the device 2400 in the wireless communicationsystem according to yet another embodiment of the disclosure may includea receiving unit 2402 and a releasing unit 2404. Particularly, thefunctional configuration of the receiving unit 2402 is the same as thatof the receiving unit 2202 described above with reference to FIG. 22,and thus no details thereof will be described herein. Only an example offunctional configuration of the releasing unit 2404 will be described indetail below.

The releasing unit 2404 may be configured to release, according to theinformation received by the receiving unit 2402, core network bearerscorresponding to the unacceptable data bearers in response to anotification from the non-deactivated base station or the deactivatedbase station.

It should understand that although the examples of the functionalconfigurations of the base station, the user equipment and the device inthe wireless communication system according to the embodiments of thedisclosure have been described above with reference to FIGS. 10-24, itshould understand that this constructs no limitation on the disclosure,and those skilled in the art may perform combination, sub-combinationand alternation or the like on the above configurations according to theprinciple of the disclosure.

Further, the embodiment of the disclosure further provides a storagemedium including machine readable program codes which when executed onan information processing apparatus, cause the information processingapparatus to perform the foregoing method for use in the wirelesscommunication system according to the embodiment of the disclosure.

Further, the embodiment of the disclosure further provides a programproduct including machine executable instructions which when executed onan information processing apparatus, cause the information processingapparatus to perform the foregoing method for use in the wirelesscommunication system according to the embodiment of the disclosure.

Accordingly, a storage medium on which the above program product storingmachine readable instruction codes is carried is also included in thedisclosure of the invention. The storage medium includes but not limitedto a floppy disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a storagecard, a memory rod and the like.

Furthermore, it shall be noted that the foregoing series of processesand apparatuses can also be embodied in software and/or firmware. In thecase of being embodied in software and/or firmware, a programconstituting the software is installed from a storage medium or anetwork to a computer with a dedicated hardware structure, e.g., ageneral purpose personal computer 2500 illustrated in FIG. 25, which canperform various functions when various programs are installed thereon.

In FIG. 25, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 2501 performs variousprocesses according to a program stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM) 2502or loaded from a storage portion 2508 into a Random Access Memory (RAM)2503 in which data required when the CPU 2501 performs the variousprocesses is also stored as needed.

The CPU 2501, the ROM 2502 and the RAM 2503 are connected to each othervia a bus 2504 to which an input/output interface 2505 is alsoconnected.

The following components are connected to the input/output interface2505: an input portion 2506 including a keyboard, a mouse, etc.; anoutput portion 2507 including a display, e.g., a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT),a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), etc., a speaker, etc.; a storage portion2508 including a hard disk, etc.; and a communication portion 2509including a network interface card, e.g., an LAN card, a modem, etc. Thecommunication portion 2509 performs a communication process over anetwork, e.g., the Internet.

A drive 2510 is also connected to the input/output interface 2505 asneeded. A removable medium 2511, e.g., a magnetic disk, an optical disk,an magneto optical disk, a semiconductor memory, etc., can be installedon the drive 2510 as needed so that a computer program fetched therefromcan be installed into the storage portion 2508 as needed.

In the case that the foregoing series of processes are performed insoftware, a program constituting the software is installed from anetwork, e.g., the Internet, etc., or a storage medium, e.g., theremovable medium 2511, etc.

Those skilled in the art shall appreciate that such a storage mediumwill not be limited to the removable medium 2511 illustrated in FIG. 25in which the program is stored and which is distributed separately fromthe apparatus to provide a user with the program. Examples of theremovable medium 2511 include a magnetic disk (including a Floppy Disk(a registered trademark)), an optical disk (including Compact Disk-ReadOnly memory (CD-ROM) and a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)), a magnetooptical disk (including a Mini Disk (MD) (a registered trademark)) and asemiconductor memory. Alternatively the storage medium can be the ROM2502, a hard disk included in the storage portion 2508, etc., in whichthe program is stored and which is distributed together with theapparatus including the same to the user.

It shall further be noted that the steps of the foregoing series ofprocesses may naturally but not necessarily be performed in thesequential order as described chronically. Some of the steps may beperformed concurrently or separately from each other.

Although the disclosure and the advantages thereof have been describedin details, it shall be appreciated that various modifications,substitutions and variations can be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.Furthermore the terms “include”, “comprise” or any variants thereof inthe embodiments of the disclosure are intended to encompass nonexclusiveinclusion so that a process, method, article or apparatus including aseries of elements includes both those elements and one or more otherelements which are listed explicitly or an element(s) inherent to theprocess, method, article or device. Without much more limitation, anelement being defined by a sentence “include/comprise a(n) . . . ” willnot exclude presence of an additional identical element(s) in theprocess, method, article or device including the element.

1. A user equipment in a wireless communication system, wherein the userequipment simultaneously performs wireless data connections with a firstbase station and a second base station over different carriers, the userequipment comprising: circuitry configured to acquire a notification, torelease the wireless data connection between the user equipment and thefirst base station, from the second base station in a case that atriggering node judges that a release condition is satisfied; releasethe wireless data connection with the first base station based on thenotification; and perform only the wireless data connection with thesecond base station, wherein the triggering node is either the firstbase station or the second base station, the first base station forwardsacceptable data to the second base station, and the first base stationnotifies a core network to release unacceptable bearers between thefirst base station and the core network bearers.
 2. A base station in awireless communication system, wherein a user equipment simultaneouslyperforms wireless connections with a first base station and a secondbase station over different carriers, the base station comprising:circuitry configured to trigger a release procedure to release thewireless connection between the user equipment and the first basestation in a case that the base station judges a release condition issatisfied; wherein the base station is the first base station or thesecond station; wherein, the first base station forwards acceptable datato the second base station, the first base station notifies a corenetwork to release unacceptable bearers between the first base stationand the core network bearers.
 3. A base station in a wirelesscommunication system, wherein a user equipment simultaneously performswireless connections with a first base station and a second base stationover different carriers, the base station comprising: circuitryconfigured to send a release request to the other base station torelease the wireless data connection between the base station and theuser equipment in a case that the base station is the triggering node;receive a deactivation notification from the other base station torelease the wireless data connection between the base station and theuser equipment in a case that the other base station is the triggeringnode; and release the wireless data connection between the userequipment, release unacceptable data bearers and transfer acceptabledata bearers to the other base station for transmission so that only thewireless data connection between the user equipment and the other basestation is performed, wherein when the wireless data connection betweenthe user equipment and the base station is released, the other basestation stops forwarding data bearers to the base station by releasingthe unacceptable data bearers and transferring the acceptable databearers to the base station.